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Barnaby Rudge-Thoughts on Week 2-Barnaby Appears

I loved the introduction of Gabriel Varden. He is a great example of how Dickens can sum up a character so well in a paragraph or two. i don’t know how he does it, but he makes you feel you know a character inside and out in just a few sentences. As if you can see into their souls. You may not always like them, but you understand them completely. That’s one of the things that makes him a master I think.

The main character finally appeared! Chapter 3, pg. 36 in the e-edition that I am reading. I guess Little Dorritt still holds the record. Dickens made the 23 year old Barnaby seem like an idiot. Perhaps he was just in shock. It will be interesting to see if Barnaby is truly as clueless as he seems in his introduction. Could Dickens build a novel around a character who’s not quite all there? It will be interesting to see, one if the first impression holds and two, if that is what Dickens is trying to do, can he pull it off.

Now on to read the next two chapters and if see if first impressions hold.